Thursday

HISTORY WAS MADE HERE – Fourth graders from Barnstable Horace Mann Charter School listen as Glen Anderson, former assistant superintendent of the Barnstable schools, tells them about the time 50 years ago that the world’s attention was focused on their town. Anderson is a board member of the JFK Hyannis Museum, which just opened a new exhibit, “The Election of John F. Kennedy, November 8, 1960, It All Happened Here.”

New exhibit marks 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s election

Something important happened here on Nov. 9, 1960. The day before, a hard-fought election had ended at the ballot box. The candidates’ totals were close, but Richard Nixon chose not to contest the election of John F. Kennedy. Thus it was that Nov. 9 saw a motorcade from Hyannis Port roll up Sea Street and down South Street past thousands of cheering Cape Codders before stopping at the National Guard Armory. Waiting inside for the president-elect were hundreds of reporters and photographers from around the world. The 43-year-old senator, not a fan of ceremony, moved as quickly as he could through the crowd to the dais. He read telegrams from Vice President Nixon and President Eisenhower, and his replies to them, before cutting to the chase. He told the country to expect that “the next four years will be difficult and challenging for us all” and that a “supreme national effort” would be needed to meet those challenges. Then, with a flash of humor connecting a new administration and his family’s new baby, he was done, taking no questions from the assembled newspeople. It was one of the days of the years of lightning, which would end with the day of drums. Fifty years to the date of the Armory speech, an attentive group of 4th graders from Barnstable Horace Mann Charter School sat on the floor of the JFK Hyannis Museum as museum board member Glen Anderson told them about those years and days as their introduction to a new exhibit of photographs and campaign items. Anderson was about the youngsters’ age when the Massachusetts senator was elected. With Kennedy’s South Street route visible out the windows, he told the students that the president-elect had gone to bed not knowing whether he had won. Confirmation came with the arrival of the Secret Service at the Hyannis Port compound. The boys and girls watched a short film by Barnstable High School student Aaron Kanzer that telescoped the 1960 election and footage of Kennedy’s appearance at the Armory into a few minutes. A highlight was a clip of a campaign song that addressed squarely voter concerns that the young candidate wasn’t mature enough to succeed President Eisenhower, then 70: “He’s not so doggone seasoned/that he won’t try something new!” After the film, there was plenty to see. An array of sharp black and white photos captures the interior of the Armory in the early morning hours after the election, with reporters slumped atop upright typewriters as they try to catch a few winks before Kennedy’s arrival. There’s a funny photo of two enterprising lads in the Port who’ve put up a sign that reads, “KENNEDY INFORMATION, 10 cents.” A “Kennedy/Johnson” straw boater sits atop one wall of photos, looking as if it’s been misplaced by a delegate to the 1960 Democratic convention in Los Angeles. In a glass case, a button makes a pointed reference to that year’s incumbent First Lady: “Mamie Start Packing The Kennedy’s [sic] are Coming.” Missing from the exhibit is an update on the Armory itself, which has survived in the shadows of Barnstable Town Hall as storage space for the Department of Public Works. The Massachusetts Historical Commission ruled that the building was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, and there are advocates who say it should receive a National Historic Landmark designation like the Kennedy compound’s. It would have been a nice touch if the town had cleaned up the interior for a special exhibit in this anniversary year. The JFK Hyannis Museum on Main Street is open Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday in November, and for the Hyannis Village Stroll Dec. 4. The election exhibit wlll be up through the end of the year, Admission is $5, $2.50 for ages 10 to 17, and free for younger children. For more information, go to www.jfkhyannismuseum.org or call 508-790-3077.